Gail S. Davidson
A Frequently Asked QuestionThis view of Frederic Edwin Church’s home Olana outside Hudson, New York is one of 2,035 oil sketches and graphite drawings by Church in Cooper-Hewitt’s collections. The Church archive represents the largest collection of the artist’s works on paper in the world! Church was one of the most prominent figures in the Hudson River School, the only student of the movement’s founder Thomas Cole. Church’s breathtaking and luminous depictions of landscapes both in America and abroad have earned him the status as one of the most beloved art Frederic Edwin Church, Olana, landscape, Hudson River School, Thomas Cole, gardens |
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Harmonious LineWith its sinuous curving line, asymmetrical composition, and integration of colors, forms, and lettering, this poster by the Belgian industrial designer, Hendrikus Van de Velde, ranks among the icons of the Art Nouveau movement. In 1898, the General Manager of the Tropon firm, manufacturers of a health supplement developed from egg whites, commissioned Van de Velde to design posters, packaging and other graphic design pieces for the company. Rather than illustrate people consuming the food additive, Van de Velde enticed viewers’ attention by showing egg whites separating f Hendrikus Van de Velde, poster, lithograph, Art Nouveau, Belgium |
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A Busman’s HolidayWinslow Homer and his brother Charles Savage Homer Jr. Winslow Homer, Charles Savage Homer Jr., Quebec, Canada, fishing, Lake St. George, watercolor |
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Chicken Point CabinTom Kundig, Olson Kundig Architects, Architecture, drawing, Idaho, vacation, hand-crafted |
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Exploring the Grand CanyonThomas Moran painted this beautiful watercolor of the Grand Canyon on a 1901 trip that was organized and paid for by the Santa Fe Railroad. The Railroad treated Moran and other artists to a three-week excursion at the Canyon, together with a guide to point out the most picturesque views. The Railroad’s aim was to get artists to paint the sites which would encourage tourists to visit the Canyon. It is a revealing example of artists col Thomas Moran, America, landscape, tourism, Grand Canyon, National Parks, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Santa Fe Railroad |
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Homer and Prouts NeckIn April 2005, while writing an essay on Winslow Homer and the American Landscape, I drove up with my husband to Prouts Neck, Maine where Homer had his studio on land that was owned by his family. Homer, along with his father and two brothers, had purchased property on Prouts Neck from 1882 through 1909, for the purpose of creating a family vacation compound and as an investment in one of the most scenic spots along the Atlantic Coast. An easement or “marg Winslow Homer, Prouts Neck, Maine, Portland Museum of Art, American landscape |
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A House of Unique CharacterAnna Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Townsend House, St. Regent’s Park, drawing, Sir Frederick Leighton, William Burgess, Frederic Edwin Church, Olana, Albert Bierstadt, Royal Academy of Arts, Architecture, interiors |
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The Dome and Cupola that Were Not ThereThis perspective tour de force dazzles the eye with the complexities of its illusionistic architecture. The story behind the work is equally compelling. Andrea Pozzo, Architecture, Italian architecture, Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Jesuit Order, Counter Reformation, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Baciccio, fresco, foreshortening, dome, perspective, drawing, illusionism, Japanese, painting, cupola, Rome |
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Memoriam for Lebbeus WoodsAfter a week of nature rendering havoc on the northeastern coast of the United States, and televised images of death, drowning, and destruction, it is interesting to consider the work of the experimental architect, Lebbeus Woods, who died on October 30, 2012. Woods was a visionary for whom destruction and reconstruction were two poles of human existence. He demonstrated his world view in an exquisitely rendered drawing, Geomechanical Tower, one of two works in Cooper-Hewitt’s collection from the 1987 Centricity series. Lebbeus Woods, Architecture, New York City, Manhattan, Hudson River, East River, Earth |
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High Fashion Train InteriorOf all of the pioneering industrial designers, including Norman Bel Geddes, Walter Dorwin Teague, and Henry Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy is by far most well-known to the American public. His designs for the original Coca-Cola contour bottle and logo, the Exxon logo, and the Avanti car are icons of 1950s and 1960s design. Raymong Loewy, Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Design, Pennsylvania Railroad, trains, illustration, concept drawings, drawing |
